The victory was the 22nd in a row for the Buckeyes (10-0, 6-0), tying the school record set from 1967 to ’69.

Carlos Hyde ran for four touchdowns and 246 yards, and quarterback Braxton Miller added 184 rushing yards. On defense, Bradley Roby returned an interception for a touchdown. The Buckeyes had six sacks.

But there was plenty of ugliness, too. The defense gave up 420 yards.

Miller was continually off-target in the wind that gusted to 29 mph. He completed 13 of 29 passes for 150 yards. Other than a sideline pass that Chris Fields took for 47 yards, Miller’s longest completion was for 18 yards.

“The wind was so tricky at times,” he said. “I threw a pretty decent deep ball and every last one I threw was 10 or 5 yards (too far).”

Ohio State had four three-and-outs. Its special teams, usually airtight but now depleted by injuries, allowed a 67-yard punt return by V’Angelo Bentley that started Illinois’ comeback from a 28-0 deficit. Illinois got as close as 47-35, ruining any chance for the style points considered vital for the Buckeyes to maintain or improve their position in the Bowl Championship Series standings.

Attention on that was part of the problem.

“The last few weeks, especially with the bye week, everybody was in our head about the situation with the top three teams and the bowl situation,” linebacker Ryan Shazier said. “Before, we were just playing game by game, just trying to win. I think we were too focused on other things rather than the main thing, which was playing Illinois.”

Coach Urban Meyer blamed himself.

“I have to make sure that our focus is just on getting better each week instead of all the national stuff,” he said. “I think I’m learning a lesson. Just shut your mouth and let’s just go. Quit worrying about this and quit worrying about that. Let’s get better.”

For all its Big Ten futility, Illinois (3-7, 0-6) does have a potent offense. The previous two games, Ohio State faced true freshman quarterbacks. Scheelhaase is a four-year starter with a knack for improvisation.

“He’s a great player,” Meyer said of Scheelhaase, who threw for 288 yards and ran for 92 (excluding sacks). “I thought he was hard to defend today and we kind of knew going in that he would be.”

The task was harder because Ohio State was without starting linebackers Curtis Grant (ankle, back) and Joshua Perry, who hit his head after slipping on ice earlier in the week. Freshman defensive end Joey Bosa, who had 2½ sacks, left the game two plays into the third quarter because of a strained neck.

At that point, the Buckeyes’ once-secure lead began slipping away. The Illini went 75 yards to cut their deficit to 35-21.

The Buckeyes then appeared to reassert control. With Scheelhaase required to be out for a snap because his helmet had come off on the previous play, Shazier sacked backup Reilly O’Toole in the end zone. The ball came free, and the Buckeyes were in position to fall on the ball for a touchdown before it squirted away and Illinois fell on it for a safety.

Ohio State took the ensuing kick and drove 55 yards for a touchdown for a 44-21 lead. But Scheelhaase led the Illini on consecutive touchdown drives to make it 47-35 with 8:49 left.

Then Hyde put the matter to rest. He broke free on touchdown runs of 51 and 55 yards two minutes apart late in the fourth quarter.

“We went back to basics because the passing game wasn’t working out the way we thought,” Miller said. “Hand the ball off to Carlos or (give it to) me. We’ve got the best O-line in the country. Why not?”

But satisfaction with tying the school record for consecutive victories was tinged with the recognition that this was far from a polished performance.

“I can’t wait to get back to work tomorrow,” Meyer said. “A lot to work on.”